Illustrious

This is $25 or more over a cheap B450. I think for systems with a CPU like a 3100 or 3300x, PCIe 4.0 is not needed and the buyers would prefer to have a cheaper motherboard. I think MSI -max motherboards (mostly the cheap ones) will still fit the bill for these systems.

Also, the lack of support for 3000 series APUs on this is plain confusing, though I understand why the choice was made. If the box says "Ryzen 3000 Compatible" I could see how someone with a 3200g will be very unhappy when it doesn't work since the 3200g is a "Ryzen 3000" processor by name.

Honestly, AMD's motherboard situation is very confusing and will continue to get more and more confusing in many years on the used markets when you have no clue what generation bios is flashed onto a board.

Distinguished

Distinguished

This is $25 or more over a cheap B450. I think for systems with a CPU like a 3100 or 3300x, PCIe 4.0 is not needed and the buyers would prefer to have a cheaper motherboard. I think MSI -max motherboards (mostly the cheap ones) will still fit the bill for these systems.

Also, the lack of support for 3000 series APUs on this is plain confusing, though I understand why the choice was made. If the box says "Ryzen 3000 Compatible" I could see how someone with a 3200g will be very unhappy when it doesn't work since the 3200g is a "Ryzen 3000" processor by name.

Honestly, AMD's motherboard situation is very confusing and will continue to get more and more confusing in many years on the used markets when you have no clue what generation bios is flashed onto a board.

The lion's share of that extra $25 is most likely the chipset itself due to upgrading downstream lanes from PCIe 2.0 to 3.0 and probably beefed-up VRMs. Some of the added cost may also be inflation to offset losses from the last couple of months. You'd still be paying most of that $25 extra without PCIe4.

Illustrious

Exactly, however it leaves tons of confusion now, and it was confusing back in 2018 when the 2000 series APUs came out. Its a mess.

Intel is not immune to this:
Intel Core i7 10750h - 14nm, 6c/12t, Comet lake
Intel Core i7 1065g7 - 10nm, 4c/8t, Ice lake.
They both are 10th generation core i7 CPUs, but they are based on different architectures and even different nodes. Granted, you don't have any compatable mobo confusion since these are laptops.

Titan

Asus is out of their mind. $279 for a B550 board? You can get a Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro Wifi, for $269. They think just because they throw that strix label on it, it is worth way more, than it really is. My X570 Gigabyte ITX sells for less than what they want to charge for their B550 itx.

Titan

Intel is not immune to this:
Intel Core i7 10750h - 14nm, 6c/12t, Comet lake
Intel Core i7 1065g7 - 10nm, 4c/8t, Ice lake.
They both are 10th generation core i7 CPUs, but they are based on different architectures and even different nodes.

I wish AMD simply appended 'G' to model numbers to distinguish CPUs from APUs instead of doing its entirely messed up and unnecessary numbering of APUs 1000 model numbers above the CPU they are actually based on and appending the 'G' to that... but it cannot do that without causing even more confusion right now because previous-gen APUs already occupy that naming space, it'd need a secondary differentiator like Inte'ls gX postfix.

Distinguished

At those prices in a world recession? no thanks. no way am i going to let any of those companies price gouge me. they can do better with the b550 pricing and drop the prices of the x470's. ill sit back and let the stupid ones buy them at those prices.

Distinguished

Also, the lack of support for 3000 series APUs on this is plain confusing, though I understand why the choice was made. If the box says "Ryzen 3000 Compatible" I could see how someone with a 3200g will be very unhappy when it doesn't work since the 3200g is a "Ryzen 3000" processor by name.

Honestly, AMD's motherboard situation is very confusing and will continue to get more and more confusing in many years on the used markets when you have no clue what generation bios is flashed onto a board.

The problem is AMD used previous gen CPU designs in their APUs (Zen+ and Zen2) and named them 1 gen above to match their desktop CPUs (non APU). This wouldn't be problem if AMD just called their current 3000G APUs the 2000G series. And the 4000G series should be called 3000G series.

We all know their 4000 series APUs are actually 3000 series CPU + Vega GPU and probably share the same BIOS design. But AMD shot themselves in the foot.

I also wish AMD would call the Ryzen 7 3800x the Ryzen 7 3750x. Then they could've called the Ryzen 9 3900x the Ryzen 9 3800x and the Ryzen 9 3950x could be called the Ryzen 9 3900x. Then they would have 39xx numbers free for their Threadripper parts. But noooooooooo, that is too logical.

Reputable

Seriously i can't believe the prices compared to B450, I'm going to get a b450 gaming pro carbon max with all the bling and call it a day. These are way overpriced in my view. B450 high end model is 130 bucks and now b550 high end is 280 bucks. Like dude....

Before saying they are overpriced, you need to find out why they cost what they cost and compare that against the launch price of the nearest equivalent B450 board. The B550 chipset itself probably carries a $7-10 initial premium for providing PCIe3 downstream lanes instead of PCIe2. Considering how pathetic the VRMs on nearly all B450 boards are (nothing above four Vcore phases), I'm expecting some of the extra cost to be due to AMD raising the minimum VRM bar a notch, so perhaps anotehr $5 here for hex-phases Vcore and upgraded components.

The expensive B550 boards cost what they cost because they have the same or similar stupid overkill VRM as high-end X570 boards do, a bunch of PCIe4 re-timers and switches to enable flexible use of CPU PCIe lanes and likely more significant-added-cost features like 2.5+GbE LAN.

Honorable

Notable

Seriously i can't believe the prices compared to B450, I'm going to get a b450 gaming pro carbon max with all the bling and call it a day. These are way overpriced in my view. B450 high end model is 130 bucks and now b550 high end is 280 bucks. Like dude....

I don't know what you precisely meant, but your terminology tickled me. Low-end boards with "stupid overkill VRMs" are not dumb. No VRMs are overkill. I'd be happy running a B450 if the VRMs can run a 3950X OC'd to the moon. There're only over-designed VRMs that looks good on paper, but fails miserably at testing (e.g. MSI X570 Gaming Edge/Pro). You can't judge VRM performance by counting the phases.

With that being said, features alone can't justify ASUS's asking price. The most expensive B450 boards, the Strix B450-E, B450 Aorus Pro, and the B450 Pro Carbon are around $150. They all have WiFi, Intel 1Gbps Ethernet, ALC1220, "Stupid Overkill VRMs", and all the unnecessary bling-bling. PCI-E reworks alone shouldn't cost more than $50 at the worst case scenario.

Did you actually read what you quoted? What part of "Expensive B550" spells "low-end" to you? If you look at pictures of announced high-end B550 boards (the expensive ones), they have what appears to be 12-16 phases VRMs. That is stupid overkill for remotely normal use and a substantial cost driver.

Splendid

Did you even understand what I said? You were indicating that a low-end chipset such as the B550 with high-end VRMs are "stupid overkill". It is not. That low-end B450 part was an explanation that it's not.

Titan

I made no representation whatsoever about B550 being "low end", B550 is mid-range and suitable for the vast majority of people. It is up to motherboard manufacturers to decide what spread from low-end (bare minimum to meet specs) to high-end (gild the lillies to whatever extent they can) they want to cover using it, as is the case with all other chipsets. That's why X570 also has motherboards that cover the spectrum from crap/bare minimum to overkill.

Hence my point, no VRMs are "stupid overkill" when it actually does perform as well as how much it costs.
Great VRMs on a dirt-cheap A320 that outperforms high-end designs? I'll take that over a X570 gaming edge.

Illustrious

Many of MSI's B350/B450 boards have the same 4 phase VRM as the MSI B450 tomahawk, and as we have seen from tests, with proper cooling that VRM design can destroy boards like the Asus B450-F or other boards with more than 4 phases.

Many B450s have ok vrms. an AsRock B450M Pro 4 has a pretty decent VRM and dual M.2 slots but yet only costs $75 often. I suspect a similar featured B550 will costs $50 more if not double.

Where did you see low-end B550 boards with 12 phases? Low-end boards may very well still be quad-phases. My 12-16 phases only applies to expensive (~$200 and up) B550 boards. I'd be surprised if anything under $150 had more than hex-phases Vcore.

Splendid

Where did you see low-end B550 boards with 12 phases? Low-end boards may very well still be quad-phases. My 12-16 phases only applies to expensive (~$200 and up) B550 boards. I'd be surprised if anything under $150 had more than hex-phases Vcore.

Well, this is getting too far away from the discussion. All I said was there is no "stupid overkill VRMs" and Mobo manufacturers have every right to put 12-16 core VRMs on mid-range chipset boards, or even low-end chipsets.

Distinguished

The lion's share of that extra $25 is most likely the chipset itself due to upgrading downstream lanes from PCIe 2.0 to 3.0 and probably beefed-up VRMs. Some of the added cost may also be inflation to offset losses from the last couple of months. You'd still be paying most of that $25 extra without PCIe4.

It seems to be like that almost across the "board" so to speak. Lots of goods and services seem to be inflated right now from just a few months ago. I knew I should have bought that monitor when I had the chance...

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